Classic Quizzes

New Quizzes Update: We’re Listening: New Quizzes Features, Classic Quizzes Timeline. (Instructure is removing the Classic Quizzes "end of life" deadline, for now.)

New Quizzes Community Hub

The quiz tool is used to create and administer online quizzes and surveys. You can also use quizzes to conduct and moderate exams and assessments, both graded and ungraded. The steps to create quiz content are the same for each quiz type. For the time being, if you need security from 3rd-party tools (e.g, Honorlock) or CSVs for student response analysis, Classic Quizzes is the better choice. Interested in some of the new question types? New Quizzes offers Hot Spot, Ordering, Categorization, and Stimulus and will become the ONLY quiz choice Summer 2025.

Graded quiz types display in the Assignments, Syllabus, Gradebook, Calendar, and To Do Lists.

Looking for help in Writing Multiple Choice Questions Links to an external site.? The Center for Teaching & Learning has resources that can help.

In Course Navigation, click the Quizzes link.

View Quizzes Index Page

The Quizzes Index page is designed with global settings at the top of the page [1], followed by the grouped Quiz types [2]. Individual quizzes are nested within each Quiz type [3].

View Quizzes Global Settings

Global settings include searching for quizzes [1] and adding new quizzes [2]. You can also manage course quiz options in the Options menu [3].

View Quizzes Options

In the Options menu, you can manage course question banks [1].

If you chose to save your quiz engine choice when creating a quiz Links to an external site., you can reset your saved choice. To reset your quiz engine choice, select the Reset quiz engine choice option in the options drop-down menu [2].

View New Quizzes Assessments

If you are using the New Quizzes LTI in your course, the Quizzes page indicates a New Quizzes assessments with the New Quizzes icon (solid) [1]. Quizzes created with the classic Canvas quiz tool are indicated with the Classic Quiz icon (outline) [2]. Both quiz types can be used in the same course.

For help with New Quizzes functionality, please see the New Quizzes chapter Links to an external site. in the Instructor Guide.

View Individual Quiz

Each quiz displays the quiz name [1], due date (if any) [2], the number of points the quiz is worth [3], the number of questions in the quiz [4], and the quiz draft state status Links to an external site. (published or unpublished) [5].

You can also set varied due dates Links to an external site. for a quiz and create due dates [6] according to course section. Varied due dates appear as multiple dates.

Note: Due dates are not required for a quiz.

View Availability Dates

Quizzes can also include availability dates Links to an external site.. Availability dates can make an assignment available for only a specific period of time.

Manage Individual Quiz

To manage an individual quiz, click the Options icon [1].

In the Options drop-down menu, you can edit the quiz Links to an external site. [2], delete the quiz Links to an external site. [3], send the quiz to another instructor Links to an external site. [5], or copy the quiz to another course Links to an external site. [6].

Notes: The migrate the quiz to New Quiz Links to an external site. option is accessible if the New Quizzes feature option is enabled in your course [4].

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When you create a quiz, you have a variety of options to choose from within a quiz.

Choose Quiz Details

When creating a new quiz, Canvas defaults to the Details tab. Give the quiz a Name and then:

Create any instructions for the Quiz in the Rich Content Editor.
Select the quiz type Links to an external site. (Practice Quiz, Graded Quiz, Ungraded Survey, Graded Survey).
Categorize the quiz into the proper Assignment group.

Set Quiz Options

Quiz settings have several options.

Shuffle Answers [1]: You can shuffle (randomize) answers. (You can also shuffle questions by creating a question group Links to an external site..)

Time Limit [2]: You can choose to set a time limit by entering the number of minutes students have to complete the entire quiz. Timed quizzes begin once a student begins the exam and do not pause if the student navigates away from the quiz. If no time limit is set, students will have unlimited time to complete the quiz.

Note: If a timed quiz is automatically submitted after a student loses internet connectivity, the submission time stamp and time to complete the quiz may not align with the allotted time limit and/or the availability dates.

Multiple Attempts [3]: You can allow multiple attempts.

Quiz Responses [4]: You can choose to allow students to view their answers, any automatic feedback generated by the quiz for correct or incorrect answers, and which questions they got wrong. Quizzes default to this option, so if you do not want students to see their quiz responses, deselect the checkbox.

As part of this option, you can restrict students view of the quiz results to Only Once After Each Attempt [5]. Students will only be able to view the results immediately after they have completed the quiz—results include both their responses and the correct answers.

Notes:

This option may not be appropriate for quizzes that require manual grading, such as essay questions, where students would require additional views to see the updated results.
When a quiz is saved with the Only Once After Each Attempt option, you can use the Moderate Quiz Links to an external site. feature to give students additional views to their quiz results.

Correct Answers [6]: You can allow students to see correct quiz answers after completing the quiz. This setting enables a green Correct tab on every correct answer for the entire quiz. Quizzes default to this option, so if you do not want students to see the correct answers, deselect the checkbox.

As a part of this option, you can also control when and for how long students can see the correct answers by setting dates (and specific times, if desired) in the Show and Hide fields.

To show answers immediately after quiz is submitted, leave the Show and Hide fields blank.
To create a date range to display the answers, set a start date in the Show field and an ending date in the Hide field.
To always show answers after a specific date, set a date in the Show field.
To hide answers after a specific date, set a date in the Hide field.

Note: If the Only Once After Each Attempt option is selected, it will override any show or hide dates or times. If you want to show or hide correct answers on any specific date or time, the Only Once option should not be selected.

One Question at a Time [7]: You can show one question at a time Links to an external site. and lock questions after answering.

Notes:

Questions will be locked even if a student clicks the Next button without answering the question.
If your Canvas admin has restricted students from viewing quiz submissions after the course ends, options 4 and 6 will not be available after the course end date has passed.

View Expanded Options

A few of the settings contain expanded menu options:

Allow Multiple Attempts

Recent Quiz Score [1]—You can choose whether to keep the highest score, latest score, or average score of all attempts. By default, Canvas will keep the highest score unless this setting is changed.
Allowed Attempts [2]—You can allow multiple attempts and limit the number of attempts. The default dashes represent unlimited attempts.

If you retain the Quizzes default option for students to see their quiz responses:

If you allow at least one attempt for the quiz, the Let Students See Their Quiz Responses area will display a Only after their last attempt checkbox [3]. Selecting this option means that students can only see their correct responses after their last quiz attempt.
If you allow more than one attempt for the quiz, please be aware that not all students may complete all attempts and therefore may never see their quiz responses. For instance, if a student has three attempts but achieves their desired score in the second attempt, the student will most likely not complete the third (and last) attempt. That means their quiz responses and correct answers will not appear because the last attempt was not completed. To allow these students to see their responses, you would have to manually change the quiz settings at a later time.

If you retain the Quizzes default option for students to see the correct answers:

If you allow at least one attempt for the quiz, the Let Students See The Correct Answers area will display a Only after their last attempt checkbox [4]. Selecting this option means that students can only see the correct quiz answers after their last attempt. This option will follow the current quiz functionality around multiple attempts. If a student never makes it to the last attempt, the correct answer setting will not apply. To allow the student to view the correct answers, you can manually change the quiz options at a later time.

Show One Question at a Time

Lock Questions [5]—You can choose to lock questions after answering. This option means that students cannot return to the previous question once it has been answered.

Set Quiz Restrictions

You can restrict the quiz so it can only be taken in specific situations. By default, these options are never selected.

You can require students to enter an access code to take the quiz.
You can filter IP addresses and require students to take a quiz from a specific computer lab. For more information on these masks, view the IP Filtering in Canvas PDF Links to an external site..

Notes: If you have Secure Exam Proctor (Proctorio) enabled in your course and are using the Chrome browser, Proctorio will also appear as an option here. The Proctorio LockDown Browser does not allow other windows to be opened during the quiz and helps prevent cheating.

Assign Quiz and Dates

In the Assign field [1], you can assign the quiz to everyone, a course section Links to an external site., or an individual student. Links to an external site.

You can set the Due Date [2], Available From date [3], and available Until date [4] for the quiz. These fields are optional and can be set depending how you want to manage the quiz:

Due Date: the date and time that the Quiz is due
Available From: the date and time when the Quiz will become available for students to take the quiz
Until: the date and time when students can no longer take the quiz

Quizzes have an auto submit feature tied to the Until (lock) date, which may affect student submissions. Only quiz attempts that have been started are auto-submitted. Common quiz scenarios and date results include the following:

No dates: quiz is never marked late and auto submitted at course conclude (see course settings)
Due date only: quiz is marked late at Due date and auto submitted at course conclude (see course settings)
Due date with Until date: quiz is marked late at Due date and auto submitted at Until date
Time limit: quiz is auto submitted when time expires (only applies when students are actively taking a quiz)
Time limit with Until date: quiz is auto submitted when time expires unless the Until date expires first.
- This overrides the Moderate this Quiz Links to an external site. feature when offering students with accommodations more time. Be careful!

Learn more about due and availability dates Links to an external site..

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Add Question

Click the Questions tab [1]. Manually create a new quiz question by clicking the New Question button [2].

Name Quiz Question

Quiz questions are not automatically numbered for instructors. To add a custom name to your quiz question, enter the name in the question text field. Custom names can help you identify quiz questions more easily.

Regardless of the question name, students always see quiz questions in numerical order (i.e. Question 1, Question 2).

Select Question Type

In the question type drop-down menu, you can create the following types of quiz questions:

Multiple Choice Links to an external site. * Note: Canvas defaults the correct answer to "A." Don't forget to either "Shuffle Answers" on the Details tab or select the "correct" answer during question creation.
True/False Links to an external site. *
Fill-in-the-Blank Links to an external site. *
Fill-in-Multiple-Blanks Links to an external site. *
Multiple Answers Links to an external site. *
Multiple Drop-down Links to an external site. (can be used for Likert scale Links to an external site.) *
Matching Links to an external site. *
Numerical Answer Links to an external site. *
Formula (simple formula Links to an external site. and single variable Links to an external site.) *
Essay Links to an external site.
File Upload Links to an external site.

* As you are creating these types of questions, you are indicating the correct answers and Canvas will grade - to the best of its ability - as students complete the quiz.

You can link course content Links to an external site. to create Quiz questions, such as linking a diagram image.

Set Point Value

To set the point value for the question, enter the points in the pts field.

Note: Quiz point values support up to two decimal places. Entering more than two decimal places will round the point value to the nearest hundredth.

Update Question

To save your question, click the Update Question button.

Add New Question Group

Question groups allow you to place multiple questions within a group for students to answer. You can choose the number of questions that should be answered from the group and how many points to assign each question. Creating a question group randomizes questions within a quiz.

You can add questions to your question group in several ways:

Link to a question bank to reference all questions in a question bank
Add an individual question to create your own questions from scratch
Find questions to reference specific questions from a question bank

Note: If you need your questions to appear in a specific order, do not place quiz questions inside a question group.

Click the Questions tab [1]. Click the New Question Group button [2].

Create Group Details

Give your question group a name [1]. Quiz question groups are not automatically named for instructors. To add a custom name to your quiz question group, enter the name in the group text field. Custom names can help you identify quiz question groups more easily.

Regardless of the question group name, students always see quiz questions in numerical order (i.e. Question 1, Question 2).

Decide how many questions you want Canvas to randomly select from the group [2] and the number of points assigned to each question [3].

Note: Quiz point values support up to two decimal places. Entering more than two decimal places will round the point value to the nearest hundredth.

Link to a Question Bank

If you want to link a question bank Links to an external site. to the question group, click the Link to a Question Bank link.

Note: If you set a question group to randomly select questions from the question bank, the question bank and questions will not be included in quiz exports. A QTI zip file will download the quiz details, but no questions will be included.

Create Group

Click the Create Group button.

Add Individual Question to Group

To add individual questions Links to an external site. to the group, click the Add icon.

Find Questions from Question Bank

You can also find questions Links to an external site. from an existing question bank and add them to the question group.

Modify Question Group

To change the number of questions to be picked from the group or to change the points assigned, click the Edit icon [1]. To delete the question group, click the Delete icon [2].

View Questions

View the questions in your quiz. To view questions details, click the Show Question Details checkbox. Note: Question details are not available in quizzes with more than 25 questions.

Save Quiz

Click the Save button to save your work and preview the quiz.

Note: You should not publish your quiz until it is your final product. If you are ready to publish your quiz and make it available to students, click the Save & Publish button.

Preview and Publish Quiz

Click the Preview button [1] to see what students will see when they take the quiz. If the preview shows the quiz the way you want it, click the Publish button [2].

Note: Although you can make changes to the quiz after it is published, students who have already opened or completed the quiz will not see any of the changes, which may affect their grades.

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Published Quiz Options

Once you publish a quiz, you can view additional options.

In addition to the options available for unpublished quizzes, in the Options menu [1], you can:

Preview the quiz [2]
Show student quiz results from students who have taken the quiz [3]
Message students who have taken the quiz already or who haven't yet taken the quiz [4]

In the sidebar, you also have access to related quiz features:

Show quiz statistics Links to an external site. [5]
- How do I view student results in a quiz? Links to an external site.
- How do I view a quiz log for a student? Links to an external site.
Moderate this quiz Links to an external site. and grant students more time or additional attempts (this option can be used for any type of quiz Links to an external site.) [6]
- Once I publish a quiz, how can I give my students extra attempts? Links to an external site.
- Once I publish a timed quiz, how can I give my students extra time? Links to an external site. Before or during their attempt
Grade quiz in the SpeedGrader Links to an external site. [7]

You can also hide grades from students by using posting policies Links to an external site. in the gradebook.

Regrade Options

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